[HISTORY: Adopted by the Board of Supervisors of the Township
of Carroll as indicated in article histories. Amendments noted where
applicable.]
[Adopted 6-4-2002 by Ord. No. 2002-1]
The following terms in this article are defined as follows:
The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Act of July 9, 1992, P.L.
678, No. 98, 40 P.S. § 638, as now or hereafter amended,
modified and/or supplemented, and any legislative enactment as now
or hereafter enacted which amends, replaces and/or supplements said
Act.
Any code, ordinance and/or law adopted, enacted and/or in effect in and for the Township of Carroll concerning fitness for habitation, the construction, maintenance, operation, occupancy, use or appearance of any premises, building and/or fire prevention, housing, housing standards, and municipal waste, including but not limited to all applicable federal and state codes and regulations. Also included within, but not limited by, this definition are the following ordinances: Chapter 100, Buildings, Unsafe; Chapter 92, Building Permits; Chapter 212, Solid Waste, and any junk automobiles, garbage or rubbish ordinances; floodplain management ordinances; Chapter 88, Brush, Grass and Weeds; Chapter 260, Zoning, and any duly enacted amendment or supplement to any of the above and any new enactment falling within this definition.
Any insurance company, association or exchange.
The Township of Carroll, Washington County, Pennsylvania.
The Secretary/Treasurer of the Township of Carroll or the Supervisors'
designee, in the Secretary/Treasurer's absence, is hereby appointed
as the designated officer who is authorized to carry out all responsibilities
and duties stated herein.
No insuring agent doing business in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania
shall pay a claim of a named insured for fire damage to a building
or structure located within the Township of Carroll where the amount
recoverable for the fire loss to the structure under all policies
exceeds $7,500, unless the insuring agent is furnished with a municipal
certificate by the Township's Tax Collector pursuant to Section
508(b) of Act 98 of 1992 and unless there is compliance with Section
508(c) and (d) of Act 98 of 1992[1] and the provisions of this article.
[1]
Editor's Note: See 40 P.S. § 638(b), (c) and (d).
A.
The Tax Collector shall, upon written request of the named insured
specifying the tax description of the property, name and address of
the insuring agent and the date agreed upon by the insuring agent
and the named insured as the date of the receipt of the loss report
of the claim, furnish the insuring agent either of the following within
14 working days of the request:
(1)
A certificate to the effect that, as of the date specified in the
request, there are no delinquent taxes, assessments, penalties or
user charges against the property and that, as of the date of the
Tax Collector's certificate or verbal notification, no municipality
has certified any amount as total costs incurred by the municipality
for the removal, repair or securing of a building or other structure
on the property; or
(2)
A certificate and bill showing the amount of delinquent taxes, assessments,
penalties and user charges against the property as of the date specified
in the request that have not been paid as of the date of the Treasurer's
certificate, the amount of the total costs, if any, certified to the
Tax Collector that have been incurred by a municipality for the removal,
repair or securing of a building or other structure on the property.
For the purposes of this subsection, the municipality shall certify
to the Tax Collector the total amount, if any, of such costs. A tax,
assessment, penalty or user charge becomes delinquent at the time
and on the date a lien could otherwise have been filed against the
property by the municipality under applicable law.
B.
Upon receipt of a certificate pursuant to Subsection A(1) of this section, the insuring agent shall pay the claim of the named insured in accordance with the policy terms, unless the loss agreed to between the named insured and the insuring agent equals or exceeds 60% of the aggregate limits of liability on all fire policies covering the building or other structure. In the case of such a loss, the insuring agent, the insured property owner and the municipality shall follow the procedures set forth in § 145-5 of this article.
C.
Upon receipt of a certificate and bill pursuant to Subsection A(2) of this section, the insuring agent shall return the bill to the Tax Collector and transfer to the Tax Collector an amount from the insurance proceeds necessary to pay the taxes, assessments, penalties, charges and costs as shown on the bill. The municipality shall receive the amount and apply or credit it to payment of the items shown on the bill.
If the loss agreed upon by the named insured and the insuring
agent or otherwise to be paid to the insured equals or exceeds 60%
of the aggregate limits of liability on all fire policies covering
the building or other structure, the following procedures must be
followed:
A.
The insuring agent shall transfer from the insurance proceeds to
the officer of the Township designated pursuant to this article in
the aggregate of $2,000 for each $15,000 of a claim, or fraction thereof,
such that, if the claim is $15,000 or less, the amount transferred
to the Township shall be $2,000; or
B.
If at the time of a loss report the named insured has submitted a
contractor's signed estimate of the costs of removing, repairing
and/or securing the building or other structure in an amount less
than the amount calculated under the foregoing formula, the insuring
agent shall transfer to the Township from the insurance proceeds the
amount specified in the estimate.
C.
The transfer of proceeds shall be on a pro-rata basis by all companies,
associations or exchanges insuring the building or other structure.
D.
After the transfer, the named insured may submit to the Township
a contractor's signed estimate of the costs of removing, repairing
and/or securing the building or other structure, and the Township's
designated officer shall forward the amount of the funds transferred
to the Township in excess of the estimate to the named insured if
the Township has not commenced to remove, repair and/or secure the
building or other structure.
E.
Upon receipt of proceeds under this section, the Township shall do
the following:
(1)
The designated officer shall place the proceeds in a separate fund
to be used solely as security against the total costs of removing,
repairing and/or securing the building or structure which are or may
be incurred by the Township of Carroll. Such costs shall include,
but are not limited to, any and all engineering, legal and/or administrative
costs incurred by the Township of Carroll in connection with such
removal, repair and/or securing of the building or other structure
or any proceedings related thereto;
(2)
It is the obligation of the insuring agent when transferring the
proceeds to provide the Township of Carroll with the name and address
of the named insured. Upon receipt of the transferred funds and the
name and address of the named insured, the Township's designated
officer shall contact the named insured in writing, certify that the
proceeds have been received by the Township, and notify the named
insured that the procedures under this article shall be followed;
(3)
When repairs, removal or securing of the building or other structure
damaged by fire have been completed in accordance with all applicable
Township codes, as certified by the Township Zoning Officer or the
Supervisors' designee after an inspection by the Zoning Officer
or the Supervisors' designee, and the required proof of such
completion has been received by the Township's designated officer,
and if the Township has not incurred any costs for repairs, removal
or securing the building or other structure, the fund shall be forwarded
to the named insured. If the Township has incurred or incurs costs
for repairs, removal or securing of the building or other structure,
the costs shall be paid from the fund and, if excess funds remain,
the Township shall transfer the remaining funds to the named insured;
and
(4)
To the extent that interest, if any, is earned on proceeds held by
the Township pursuant to this article, and the proceeds are not returned
to the named insured, such interest shall belong to the Township,
as it was the Township's funds which were originally expended
for such repairs, removal and/or securing of the building or other
structure. To the extent that proceeds are returned to the named insured,
interest earned on such proceeds shall be distributed to the named
insured at the time that the proceeds are transferred to the insured.
F.
The Township shall be entitled to recover any deficiency in expenditures
and/or costs it incurs whatsoever, and nothing in this article shall
be interpreted to modify its rights to do so under law or otherwise.
Furthermore, the Township and the named insured may enter into an
agreement that permits the transfer of funds to the named insured
if some other reasonable disposition of the damaged property has been
negotiated and agreed to by the Township of Carroll.
The Board of Supervisors may, by resolution, adopt procedures
and regulations to implement Act 98 of 1992 and this article and may,
by resolution, fix reasonable fees to be charged for municipal activities
or services provided pursuant to Act 98 of 1992 and this article,
including but not limited to issuance of certificates and bills, performance
of inspections and opening and/or managing separate fund accounts.
Nothing in this article shall be construed to make any Township
public official, employee nor agent an insuring agent, nor to obligate
the Township of Carroll or any public official, employee or agent
of the Township to pay any public property taxes, liens, costs or
expenses, nor to take any action with regard to any property, except
to the extent and only to the extent the Township has expended funds
from the insurance proceeds therefor.
The Township's designated officer shall forthwith file
a copy of this article with the Pennsylvania Center for Local Government
Services, together with the names, position and phone number of the
Township officer responsible for compliance with this article and
Act 98 of 1992, and such other and further information, if any, as
may be required to comply with Act 98 of 1992.
Any owner of property, any named insured, any insuring agent
or any person acting on behalf of any of the above violating any of
the provisions of this article or any persons or entity providing
or filing any false information required pursuant to this article
shall, upon conviction thereof in a summary proceeding before a Magisterial
District Judge, be subject to a fine of not more than $500 together
with the costs of prosecution and, in default of payment thereof,
shall be subject to imprisonment for not more than 30 days.
If any structure is owned by more than one person, in any form
of joint tenancy, as a partnership, or otherwise, of if any named
insured or insuring agent consists of a partnership, corporation or
other entity(ies), each person, including but not limited to all partners
and officers of a corporate owner, named insured or insuring agent,
shall be jointly and severally responsible for the duties imposed
under the terms of this article and shall be jointly and severally
subject to prosecution and liability for a violation of this article.
This article shall be liberally construed to accomplish its
purposes to deter the commission of arson and related crimes, to discourage
the abandonment of property, to prevent urban blight and deterioration
and to protect and promote the health, safety and welfare of the citizens
of the Township of Carroll.
